Philly Half Marathon

Yes, I know I’ve been neglecting the blog. Don’t take it personally, its just that most of my racing is over the year and, as a result, I just don’t have too much to blog about. This past weekend however I ran the Philadelphia half-marathon and it was definitely blog worthy!

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, running is not my primary sport. That said, it is simply one of the best workouts out there and a sure way to improve fitness quickly. I started really running last winter when Darek had the team running 10Ks on Saturday mornings when it was to cold to paddle.

Those first 10Ks were painful. But the more we ran them the easier they got and the more I enjoyed them. To provide a little more motivation and structure to my running I signed up for my first running race — the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. Training for that kept me moving through the cold winter and set me up for a great paddling season.

Extrapolating on that, I figured a fall run would be similarly motivating and thus came the idea to run the Philly Half-marathon. 13.1 miles was longer than I’d ever run but the 10 miles was doable so I signed up. With that on the calendar, I kept a running base all paddling season and then ramped up the running in September. During October and November I ran several 10 milers and a 12 miler as training. I wasn’t doing them particularly fast but I was doing them.

With that training, I was confident I could finish the race. As the day approached, I set two goals. My “A goal” was to run the race in 2 hours or less. My ”B goal”, in the event that Awasn’t doable, was to simply finish without walking. In the end, I met my “A goal” by crossing the finish line with a time of 1:59:54. That is a pace of 9:08 minutes per mile. I was number 2319 out of 7187 who entered and 1091 out of the 4654 women. Not super speedy but good enough for a first time! Here are a few highlights from the race:

1. Perfect weather: Philly in late November can be cold and wet. I obsessed about the forecast spending hours on weather.com, wundground.com, and just about every other weather site in the days leading up the race. The forecast, in typical mid-Atlantic fashion, waffled between cloudy with light rain to clear and cool. Fortunately clear and cool won out and we had perfect running weather. It was mid 40s at the start and high 40s at the end with not a cloud to be seen in the sky!

2. Running with Tim: Tim is great but he is so much faster than me! We started the race together and ran a rather unsustainable pace of  8:07 in the first mile. I didn’t feel terrible though so we kept it up until mile 3 where I turned him loose and dropped back to a more sane pace for me. Tim just sped up from there and finished in 1:43 with a pace of just under 8 minute miles which is awesome!

3. Names on bibs:  In this race they put names on our number bibs. It was so cool. I’d be struggling up a hill (see below) and someone would yell “Way to go Cyndi” or “Keep it up Cyndi”. That was super encouraging and pushed me onward.

4. Hills: This course is advertised as a flat course. It totally isn’t! There were several hills one of which snaked up through a park around mile 9.5. It was brutal. Fortunately at the top the volunteers were passing out Espresso Love gu (one of my favorites!). I downed that, checked the time and knew that to get in under 2 hours I’d have to get moving. 

All of the above (except the hills) made the day one of the best running days I’ve had. As I crossed the finish line just under my target time I couldn’t have been happier. And already I was thinking about the next event how to go faster.

Dave got some pictures from the event. I’ll post them as soon as I can, so check back.

Knot Racing

Yesterday I paddled in the Knot Race. The race, held over in Lewes Deleware, is a great season closer.  It originated when a few of the Delmarva and Penn kayakers swore to not to form a race but to organize a fun paddle.  And so the  Knot Race was born. In this race the focus is on fun, catagories are devised so everyone wins and racing takes a back seat to paddling with friends.

Knot Race T-shirt

This year, despite the best that mother nature could throw at us, the Knot Race was just not not going to happen. It was orginally scheduled for last Sunday (the 18th) but that was not to be. The first Nor’Easter of the season raged through and as Chris said the weather went from bad to dangerous.  The organizers rescheduled for this Sunday.

The weekend started to take shape when Stephen emailed to say he was going to be in DC on Saturday and asked if he could join us for sprint practice. That sounded like a good plan with the only problem being that I still needed to run — the Philly Half Marathon is coming up quickly.  But I figured, oh well, the Knot race is short and not really racing so who cares if I show up a little tired.

I pulled my body from bed at 6:15 am on Saturday morning and was on the trail by 7:20. It was strangely warm as I ran down the tow path with temps in the 70s and the sky looking like it could open up at any point. As I finished my run down on Water Street 7  miles later,  I saw Stephen walking toward the club.

Next up was 3×4km in the K1s. We first put Stephen in Leslie’s Tor but it proved a little too tippy. Turns out sprint boats don’t feel that much like surf skis. So into a trainer he went. We spent the next hour doing a warm up and then 2×4km.

Stephen soon got comfortable and was zipping ahead. Time to try the Tor again. This time he was much more stable. Once underway there was hardly a wobble despite the increasing wind. So up to the 2km mark and back we went again bringing our total to about 14-15km for the day.  The usual post practice rehydrating on champagne and orange juice followed.

Once back home, I repacked my bags with ocean gear, loaded the Nemo, grabbed a snack and then Dave and I hit the road out to Chris’s in Delaware. It was windy as a major cold front pushed through. Here was to hoping it would be not be like this tomorrow! We arrived in time for dinner at Dogfishhead where Chris and Dave sampled the local brews since they were not (no I mean really not) racing the next day.

Sunday morning dawned … breezy! The forecast of 7 knot winds was not to be. These were looking much more like 20knots. We arrived at the launch in Lewes to find many many cars with kayaks but not one boat on the ground or in the water. From the beach we could see nothing but whitecaps. After a few phone calls, a more protected course on the Broadkill river was selected. We caravaned over to the new boat launch where the wind was fierce but at least the whitecaps were not. 

Jeff E. explained the course a 7 mile out and back looping the bridge. It sounded easy enough so many of us chose to go light. It was only 7 miles and it was cool. No need to fuss with the regular hydration systems, extra food, ect. 

Jeff’s adorble daughter Marley called the start and we headed up river. The usual suspects assumed their positions. Susan and Patty were in the lead — in large part due to their just going when they hit the water and not waiting for the start! Earl took off  after them with Jeff P. on his tail. Cliff, Stephen and I paddled together briefly until Cliff slowed down to chat with Suan and Patty (this was Knot racing afterall) and Stephen, who hasn’t learned how to not race, took off after Earl. 

After about a mile the lead pack had put distance between itself and the others which ended up not being a good thing. See no one in the lead group had any idea where this bridge was. They said Broadkill so up the Broadkill we went. It became clear that things were not going according to plan when we passed Oyster Rocks somewhere around mile 2.5 which is where the Broadkill race starts. From there I knew where the next bridge was and it was not close. It would be Route 1, about 5 miles upriver.

Now if any of us had any sense we would have used those GPSs we had and paddled to some distinguishable marker near 3.5 miles and just turn around. But no, we are not sensable. If Stephen, who was leading, was going to go for the bridge, well then so were we.  And so we continued on and on and on and on. Note to self, do NOT follow Stephen!

As we battled the headwinds Mihael and Jeff P. passed me while I bemoaned the light paddler, light boat combination. Eventually the wind turned to our backs and I was able to regain my position in front of them.  After an enternity I finally saw Stephen and Cliff returning. The “3 mile” bridge was just another .25 miles ahead at mile 7.25!

I passed under the bridge and turned around. And when I did the GPS slowed dramatically. We had been paddling with the current. Now the current was against us.  With7.5 miles to go I saw the GPS read between 3.8 and 4 MPH and knew this “7″ mile paddle was going to be more like a “three hour tour”.

I resigned myself to the situation and kept paddling. I also stopped long enough to retrieve my drinking tube from the cockpit to get a little fuel from the Heed I mixed that morning. This turned out to be a good thing.  As I hit the many headwind patches Jeff caught up with me again and we played leap frog for the next 5 miles.  He would pass me in the headwind as I was blown backward and I would pass him on the downwind and corners since he had no rudder. We inched our way homeward.

After one of our upwind sections and at mile 12ish I saw Jeff turn for, what I figured was, the home stretch. We paddled up some twists and turns and I started watching the GPS.  We were going with the current again and that should not be. I saw Jeff slow at each corner. Eventually I called out asking if he was questioning his directional choice and he said he was. We turned around, against the current, back toward the main river. Note to self, do NOT follow Jeff.

As we exited the creek, we saw Mihael and a ski paddler a bit up river on the other side. So much for all that distance we had put on them! We paddled on and saw the turn we were supposed to make a bit further down. By this time I was done but I just kept going knowing the end was close. My back was killing me, I had no fuel left and this was NOT fun!

Eventually, the main dock came into view and I could KNOT have been happier. I paddled up to it and just sat there holding on for a few mintues. Eventually I got out while Stephen, who had already changed and gotten dry by this point,  and Dave got my boat. I stood at the car trying to decide which was more important — eating or changing. In the end I tried to do both.

I was downing a hammer bar, some pita bread and mixing Perpetuem when Dave lead a throughly bonked Jeff over.  Jeff hadn’t had any food or water all day and was completely spent. I gave him an Acelgel and some pita bread then he, Stephen and I shared the Pertpetuem. As we were starting to come back to life, Stephen mentioned that he had a box of Cheeze-its in the car. Post-paddling-power food. And with that I agreed to follow Stephen anywhere even if he did KNOT know where he was going!

Army 10 Mile Report

Army Ten Mile Finishing Coin

On Sunday I ran the Army 10 miler by myself while surrounded by 20+ thousand other runners. It was a little surreal.  The plan was for Tim and I to run the race as a warm up for the Philly Half-marathon that Tim, Leslie and I will run in November.

Leading up to this event, I’ve been running but not nearly as consistently as before the Cherry Blossom race. The weather is still way too nice making paddling, not running, the priority. My longest run was just over 7 miles and I didn’t get many of those in either.  Without a super good base, I decided to treat this as a long training run and not to focus too much on going fast.

The week before the race, Tim came down with a sinus infection and was in no shape to run. Decision time. With Dave at Delmarva all weekend this was going to be totally up to me. Did I really have the motivation to get up at 5 am, get myself to the race, run the entire thing and get home all without a partner in crime? Remember I’m not a runner. I’m a paddler who runs!

When I went to pick up the bib from Tim on Saturday night he encouraged me to run. He said the course and crowd was super fun and that the race is really well organized. With his encouragement, and a stellar weather forecast, I convinced myself to go.

Arriving at the metro at 6 am I began to understand exactly what 20+ thousand runners feels like. The entire platform was packed as we waited for the train, everyone decked out in running shoes and running gear. Needless to say it was not your usual DC metro commuting crowd! I arrived at the Pentagon by 6:45 and, after a bit of wandering, found bag check. I stashed by keys, wallet and fleece and headed in search of coffee. Fortunately the USO was passing out coffee, water, kashi bars and bananas.

With coffee in hand, I made my way to my time corral. It was unmistakable that this was the ARMY 10 miler. There were parachuters floating over the Pentagon, complete Army battalions warming up to run together, helicopters flying overhead.  Everywhere people were chatting with friends, stretching out and planning their runs. Surrounded by 20,000 people I was acutely aware that I was by myself.

Soon enough however we all started moving up toward the start line. With so many runners, it was a slow start. When I crossed the line, I was at barely more than a jog. All across the 395 bridge I dodged and wove to try to find some open space to run in. It was packed and definitely slower than the start of the Cherry Blossom race. 

I’m a middle of the pack runner which this course , with its many turns where you double back and, as a result, see your faster, fellow runners, made painfully obvious. From the memorial bridge I could see runners already coming back past the Kennedy Center and while running up Independence Ave. I marveled at the faster runners already at mile 8 while I hadn’t even reached mile 6!

The crowd was great and I completely forgot about speed . We’d all clap as we went under any bridge. There were Army bands at the water stops along with great volunteers. Spectators, several handing out beer, lined the course. The miles flew by and I felt really good the entire time.

Coming across the 14th street bridge the finish I was almost sad to see the race end. But a little more drama was left. As we rounded the last corner a gust of wind came up and whipped off my hat. Now I really don’t suggest this but I stopped, veered hard to the left to avoid being trampled by the runners behind me, ran in the opposite direction and turned again to pick up my hat.  Basically I risked life and limb for a $20 hat, but I love that hat!

Hat back on, I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:35, or a 9:31 minute mile. That is a little slower than I ran at the Cherry Blossom (8:57 min miles) but not too bad. I might have actually been a little faster once you factor in that this course had some hills, I walked each of the water stops to load up on gatorade and water due to the warmer weather, and that little hat fiasco! Best of all I felt great and like another 3.1 miles would have been doable. With the Philly half still a good six weeks away so I should  ready!

Born to Run.

Born to Run

I’m stuck in New York City most of this week on business which is screwing with my workout schedule. To stay motivated and as a treat I picked up Christopher McDougall’s new book “Born to Run”. I had put in on hold at the local libary but, as I was number 159 or something, on the wait list I just gave up!

I’ve heard great things about the book and find it fascinating that any book about running can be the national best seller list. I haven’t gotten far into it but so far it isn’t disappointing. Here is a great quote from one of the early chapters by Roger Bannister — the first person to break 4 minutes in the mile.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it wil be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether your’re a lion or a gazelle — when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Now New York isn’t Africa but the quote still motivated me to get up and run 5 miles on the treadmill this morning!

Wye Island Regatta

Saturday was the annual Wye Island Regatta. The 12 mile race around Wye is a pillar in the local racing scene and can always be counted on as an opportunitiy to spend time with great friends.

I packed up Nemo at 7:00 am and headed east toward the Bay. Arriving just after 8 am I found the parking lot full of the usual suspects — Bill(x2), Stephen, Chris, Charlie, David, Annette, Patty, Cliff …. nearly everyone had turned out.  Getting on the water in time for our start proved challenging as everyone seemed to be more interested in chatting than in paddling! 

The weather was good for racing — cool and overcast. Some years it has been 90+ degees. The only negative was the 10 knot wind blowing from the Northwest. Not enough to whip up any chop but enough to ensure a headwind for a good portion of the course.

The officials at Wye do not like mass starts. They prefer to line us up by number and send us off one at a time. This effectively makes the race a time trial and time trials are not my thing.  I have a hard time motivating myself to paddle hard without a rabbit or two in sight. It also means no wash riding! This would be a race between me and my GPS. Throughout the race I focused on taking long powerful strokes and keeping the GPS numbers high. If I glanced down and saw the GPS move below 5.7 mph I dug in harder. The final mile I decided to drain whatever energy was left and paddled all out. I ended with a time of 2:04:57 – pretty  respectable for me, especially considering the headwind.

Wye is one of the few races that I’ve done multiple times and in multiple boats. Looking through my old blog posts and race results I was able to compile my history since 2005. Interesting to see how my times have changed. Here they are:

• 2005 — 2:17 — Nigel Foster Silhouette
• 2006 — 2:06:27 — WSBS Thunderbolt
• 2007 – Likely 1:30ish for an 8 mile short course due to weather – KayakPro Nemo (slow slow due to a broken rudder)
• 2009 — 2:04:57 — Kayak Pro Nemo

Someday I’d love to hit 2 hours!